Air suspension question

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bogard985
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2003 SE

Air suspension question

Post by bogard985 »

I have a feeling this may be an issue with the leveling sensor but I'm not sure and figured I would ask the forum. I replaced the rear shocks on my 2003 SE about 70k miles ago. They still ride and feel fine and pump up when I have the trunk loaded. The minor issue I'm having right now is that when I am at a stop, on a slight incline, I will hear an audible "plunk" coming from the passenger rear corner and the whole car will give a shimmy like that shock just dropped a couple of inches. It could be happening when I'm driving too and I just think its a bump in the road, I'm not sure. Ideas?
96 SSEi
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Re: Air suspension question

Post by 96 SSEi »

hi, first thing is to visually inspect the shock for leaks - oil and listen for air leak.
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Re: Air suspension question

Post by 00Beast »

First step is to visually inspect everything under there. It could be a loose toe-rod, could be a bad shock mount, could be a number of things. If the whole car shakes, I'd check it out ASAP and make sure it's not something that could fail and lead to an accident.
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bobc997615
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Re: Air suspension question

Post by bobc997615 »

Check the upper shock mounts. The rubber bushings may have pushed thru the steel mount.
dougtoth
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Re: Air suspension question

Post by dougtoth »

That is exactly what happened to my 2001SLE and it turned out to be bad rear shock mounts.
I think my wife hit some pot holes and the metal pipe pushed out of the rubber mount about 1".
That was the banging noise I was hearing.
bogard985
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2003 SE

Re: Air suspension question

Post by bogard985 »

I think my mounts are bad. I also discovered that the line on that side got pinched somehow and is leaking air. Hopefully the compressor hasn't been damaged from having to run so much.
bogard985
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2003 SE

Re: Air suspension question

Post by bogard985 »

ok, I'm at a total loss. I'm here in my garage trying to replace my struts and mounts. Easy enough. But the air line fittings for the suggested Monroe Max Air shocks are different than what I have on there. And the kit I ordered doesn't fit into the compressor because it lacks the flange at the end of the line to hold it in. The only option here seems to be to bypass the auto leveling system.
bogard985
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Year and Trim: 2004 GXP
2003 SE

Re: Air suspension question

Post by bogard985 »

I ended up returning the Monroe shocks and got the Gabriel ones as they had all of the correct hardware etc... The ones I pulled off were either the Delco or Gabriel shocks.
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